Chicken Coop Cleanout

Spring usually brings two large jobs. One is fairly fun, which is getting the garden planted. The second, less enjoyable job, is mucking out the chicken coop.

We use the deep litter method in our coop, which involves starting with a clean coop, adding bedding, and then adding more and more bedding as the chickens soil it. Eventually, the bedding layer gets pretty thick, is all removed, and the process starts again. We cleaned the coop in the fall, so there was 6 to 7 months of accumulation to remove this spring. This was also the time of year when the chickens spend much less time outdoors, so plenty of manure had accumulated. I had some extra sand from filling sandbags for another project and the flies were getting bad, so it was time to clean.

I used a pitchfork to slowly remove the bedding layers. The manure's nitrogen level in the bedding was too strong to place on the spring garden, so Maggie used the wheelbarrow to transfer the bedding to a pile nearby for composting over the summer. We then added some fresh sand to the floor, some lime, and new woodchips and straw to give the chickens a fresh start.

Looking at the pile, it is hard to believe this was all in a flat layer in the coop. One of the reasons we have chickens is to provide this organic matter and help us build up our soil. Come October, we'll spread this and the bedding from the fall cleanout in the garden, garlic, and asparagus beds.

The process took longer than usual, as one chicken decided to lay an egg in the middle of the day and we did not want to bother her. We spread some scratch around to keep the others occupied.

yes, we have more than two chickens...